


Half-fledged

by extrastellar



Series: SuperBatFam [8]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Family Dynamics, Future Fic, Gen, Vigilante Lifestyles, superbatfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: A mission of Stephanie's goes wrong thanks to her baby sister getting involved without permission. And instead of complaining about it in her comfortable bed at home, she's called to mediate between her surrogate dad and his half-fledged Robin.





	Half-fledged

Steph couldn't even begin to count where things went wrong.

Was it when she left her spare gooberangs in the Cave, by accident? Or when Tim had to whisk away because Oracle had to put him on another emergency at the other end of the city? Or was it when Helena — stupid little Helena — decided to appear at _Steph's_ mission and try to mess with _Steph's_ perps? _Or_ was it when one of the perps blew himself up? _Or_ when Batman fell from the sky and growled "Robin, Spoiler, stand down"?

Helena had been Robin for less than a week. Damian had discarded the Robin alias and now went by Lazarus (bit melodramatic, nearly all of them had died and came back at some point, also Jason had called dibs on the resurrection thing brand) and as soon as her brother had left, Helena had started begging and pleading and when Bruce hadn't budged, she had just stolen Steph's old Robin uniform and went on patrol with Catwoman. And Bruce had not liked that at all, so now there was a new Robin alongside Batman in town, meddling with things she was not supposed to do.

Steph parked the Ricochet. She was happy it was only designed for one person because she probably would have yelled at Helena if she had to drive her back to the Cave.

"Clark", Steph snapped, irritated. Her stepfather jumped at her tone where he was leaning against the Batcomputer's console, still in Superman's suit, but already relaxed into Clark Kent's stance and expressions.

Clark took one look at her and immediately put his mug of coffee aside, worry painting his face. "Jesus, Steph. What happened? You're bruised all over."

"Helena decided to meddle", Steph said. She pulled her cape and mask off and slammed both into her locker. "She is supposed to stay with _Bruce_."

Clark shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "That's right. What did she do?"

"Screwed things up, what else?", Steph muttered and disappeared behind the lockers to change into civvies. "Perp blew himself up, B had to intervene. I'm _Spoiler_, Batman hasn't had to show up at my assignments for almost a _decade_, Clark! And all because Bruce Wayne can't control his new Robin! I'm so sick of it, I might hit myself up with some 1800s cough syrup."

Clark winced. "I understand, Steph. I'll talk to her."

"No need. B already yelled at her." Steph stepped out again and huffed. "Had to blow off some steam. And if Bruce goes too soft on her, I'm counting on you, Big Blue."

Clark shrugged helplessly. "Normally, B's the mean one."

"Be a Pokémon and evolve, Supes", she said and shrugged into her jacket. "Spoiler out. G'night, Clark."

"Get home safe", Clark called after her while she climbed up the stairs of the Batcave.

* * *

When she came home, Nick was in the nursery, sitting in the rocking chair and feeding baby Robyn her bottle. He looked like a mess, in a faded Coast Cavaliers T-Shirt, boxers and his hair a spiky chaos, and Robyn was already dozing off, same as her father.

"Hey, you", Steph said and Nick blinked at her.

"Hey, you", he said and gave her a crooked smile. Robyn's hands fell from her bottle as the baby drifted back to sleep and Nick carefully plucked the bottle from her mouth. "Tough night?"

Steph winced. She had taken a look in a mirror in the Batcave and she looked like crap. Her jaw was bruised, that would take a lot of foundation to cover up at work, and her whole body throbbed from being thrown against a wall when one of the perps blew himself up. "Nice way of saying 'you look like shit'."

Nick yawned and rose out off the rocking chair to put Robyn back in her crib. "Pot, kettle. I'm not looking like hot stuff either."

'Liar, liar, pants on fire', Steph thought and she probably would have tried to jump Nick the second they were out of the nursery if she wasn't hurting in places she hadn't even know she had. "Rob alright?"

"Yeah, just a bit fussy."

Steph peeled out of her clothes, put on her favourite ratty t-shirt and sweatpants and dropped into bed. Should she shower? Definitely. Was she being gross? Oh, undoubtedly. Did she give a single flying fuck? No-pe.

Nick flopped onto the mattress next to her and let out a huff. "Wanna talk about it?"

Steph didn't raise her head from where it was buried in her pillow. "Helena is a little demon."

Nick shrugged. "Damian basically raised her."

"So did Jon and Billy and they're puppies", Steph grumbled. "Lena's just reckless and doesn't listen to orders."

She could basically feel Nick's look.

"Hey!" She turned so that she could look at him. "I follow orders, shit just hits the fan anyway."

Nick snickered. "I guess."

Steph moaned. "I can't believe why I married you."

Nick shifted over and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

"Yeah", he said softly. "Me neither."

Steph groaned and sunk under the blankets. "Why are you so _cute_."

"Been told it's part of my charm."

"As a _policeman_?"

"Hey, look at your brother, he does it too."

Steph huffed. "Point taken."

They laid in silence for a while, Nick playing with the tangled mess that was Steph's hair after patrol, until she eventually budged.

"I shielded her", Steph said, voice muffled in her pillow. "Lena. Saw the perp's bomb and just grabbed her. No time to grapple away, he exploded faster than Mentos and Coke."

Nick's fingers moved from playing with her hair to gently massaging her scalp.

"She's just a _kid_", Steph went on. The horror, that had flooded her, when she saw the bomb under one of the guys' parkas, had driven her not to pull out her grapple gun and shoot off, but launch herself at Helena instead, bringing her down and protectively curling around her. She hadn't even spared a thought at _not_ protecting her little sister, even though she had a baby daughter and a husband waiting for her. "The whole 'Robin' thing is more screwed up than I thought. Man, what did I _think_ back then."

Nick hummed. "But Helena's alright. Nothing happened to her."

"Should have seen the way Bruce yelled at her, though", Steph muttered. "He got so mad I thought Supes was gonna drop in any minute because he thought B was going into cardiac arrest. I swear, he almost popped a vein."

"Well, he _is_ getting kind of old."

Steph snickered into her pillow. "Don't let him hear that, Nickelodeon."

Nick stretched out on the bed and groaned when his back popped. "Ah, he's probably bugged our place anyway. Was nice knowing you, Steph."

Steph smacked his thigh. "Drama queen."

Her communicator beeped on the nightstand and Steph dropped her head in the pillow again.

"_Spoiler. Come in_", Bruce's tinny voice sounded from the comm.

She groaned and reached over. "I'm off the clock, B."

_"I need you in the Cave._"

"And I need a seven year nap, but I guess I won't get that either."

Bruce's voice, when he continued, was the one he fell into when trying very hard not to groan in annoyance. "_Spoiler, just get here. Robin wants to apologise_."

Nick lifted both brows and Steph flopped over on her back, comm pressed to her ear, rather than fastened at it.

"So she has Daddy call?", Steph grumbled. "Why don't _you_ come over _here_."

"_I assume your child is asleep. Our presence would be a disturbance_."

Nick winced. "He does have a point."

Steph rolled her eyes. Robyn being woken up by her bratty aunt slash current namesake and dramatic grandfather in the apartment and then probably screaming her head off wasn't really something she'd choose over the comfort of staying in bed. "Fiiiiiiiine. I'll be there."

"_And Spoiler?_", Bruce said. "_Don't dawdle. Robin does have a bedtime._"

"Yessir", Steph sighed. "Spoiler out."

"Think Helena apologises of her own volition?", Nick asked once Steph placed the comm back on the nightstand.

"Dunno." Steph shrugged and grunted when she sat upright. Man, she was way too sore to move. "My guess is that B tried to force her, Lena turned stubborn and Clark managed to coax her into agreeing."

"Sounds about right", Nick said. "Any idea when you'll be back?"

"Nope", Steph said while she grabbed a pair of socks out of the drawer and snatched a Gotham Knights hoodie off the chair. "If it gets too late, I'm staying at the Manor."

"That's alright. Rob and I can manage."

Steph grimaced. "Kinda feel bad for making you, though."

Nick smiled at her. "Nah, don't worry. That's why I'm on paid paternity leave."

"GCPD must hate me for that."

Nick shrugged. "Hey, Robyn was a team effort."

Steph grinned at him and fastened her comm at her ear. "Sorry, didn't mean to downplay your _involvement_."

He settled back against the pillows and gave a sleepy salute. "I'll see ya."

Steph ducked down and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "See ya."

* * *

  
When Steph made her way down into the Cave, she could see Damian at the Batcomputer, still dressed in his black and green Lazarus costume, typing away at the keyboard, eyes fixed on the screen.

"Hey Dames", she said and shuffled up next to him. "What's up?"

"Slow night", Damian said and gave her a quick glance before doing a double take. "Heavens, _Brown_, what are you _wearing_?!"

Steph looked down at herself. Checkered sweatpants, a too big Gotham Knights hoodie and Uggs. "Civvies?"

"Civilian? You look homeless."

Steph rolled her eyes and whacked her brother's shoulder. "Shut up, Dames. Where's B and Lena?"

"Med bay", Damian said and turned to a blinking dot on the monitor. He pulled on his gloves and pressed the green domino into place. "Duty calls."

Steph took a closer look at the screen. "Uh-huh, duty being Jon?"

Damian scrunched up his nose the same way he did when he had been a bratty pre-teen, but his brown skin darkened in a faint blush. "I fail to see how this is any of your business, Brown."

"It's _Gage_, actually", Steph said and ruffled her not-so-little-brother's hair. "Do your research, Lazarus, then go bang your boyfriend."

"Bite me."

Steph snickered and wandered over to the med bay.

Helena was sitting on the stretcher, domino peeled off and cape discarded while Bruce stitched up her temple.

"Knock knock", Steph called and slipped inside. "The Big Bad Bat summoned The Spoiler."

Bruce, who had pulled his own cowl off but was otherwise still in full costume, safe for the gauntlets, gave her a flat look. "Stephanie."

"Bruce", Steph said, mimicking his tone and crossed her arms. "What's up."

Bruce finished the last stitch, wiped the sewn wound off and snapped his latex gloves off. "Helena?"

Helena shifted uncomfortably on the stretcher and for a second, Steph wanted to hug her.

'No, Stephanie! Don't fall into her cutesy, guilt-trippy trap!', she scolded herself.

"Sorry", Helena said eventually, eyes fixed on her father.

Bruce scowled. "It's not me you need to apologise to."

Helena looked like she wanted to argue, but Bruce gave her another hard look and she turned to Steph.

"I'm sorry", she said again. "Shouldn't have run off and meddled with your stuff."

"Betcha shouldn't", Steph said. Man, playing tough like this was hard. The gloomy, unapproachable, angry thing was Bruce's schtick. Even Damian and Jason cracked a couple dark joke on missions.

"You did not only endanger _your_ life", Bruce said, "but also Stephanie's. Two men are dead and one is fighting for his life in hospital because you meddled."

"They were drug sellers!", Helena bit. "They're ruining people's lives, why do you even care?!"

"We do not kill, Helena!", Bruce snapped back. "At any cost, casualties are to be _avoided_. Do you understand?"

Helena crossed her arms and tilted up her chin in defiance. "Your moral compass is way off. Mom said so."

Steph winced. Uh-oh.

Bruce's jaw set. "Your mother is not your mentor. I am. You are not Stray or Catgirl or whatever else, you are _Robin_. And Robins heed to Batman's moral compass or they're _fired_."

'Been there, done that', Steph thought. 'Not fun.'

"Yeah, that's why they all lived so long, right, because they _heeded_ to Batman's holy moral code", Helena hissed and Steph could only detect Bruce's minuscule flinch at those words thanks to a decade of working with him. Oh boy, Steph could not help Helena now.

Bruce squared his shoulders. "To your room, now. You are benched and grounded for a month. Do not try to argue, young lady."

Helena jumped off the stretcher and stomped off, radiating anger as she went.

Steph bit her lip. "...that was... disastrous?"

Bruce didn't answer, only started packing away the medical supplies.

Steph groaned internally. She had come because Helena was supposed to apologise (which she did), not to play mediator between Batman and his pre-teen daughter.

"B, you know she didn't mean that", she said eventually.

"Whether she meant it or not doesn't matter", Bruce said curtly. "She is correct." He exhaled shakily. "Dick, Barbara, Jason, Tim, Damian, you. You all died or just barely escaped death because you were Robins. There is no need to deny it. I am aware of this fact."

Some dark voice inside her head whispered that Bruce was right.

"Look, B", she started awkwardly. "Dick was shot because he was _Nightwing_. He made that for himself. And Jas—"

"Stephanie", Bruce said quietly, but firmly. "Please."

'Great job, Steph.'

"Sorry", Steph mumbled and moved to stand beside Bruce. They kept quiet while he arranged medical utensils back into their respective drawers until the silence became too heavy for her. "Would it... would it really be so terrible for Lena to run with Selina instead?"

Bruce let out a long exhale. "Selina is still a thief, Steph. She is not on the side of the law. If Helena were to run as her sidekick, I am positive that she would drift into criminality as well."

His face shifted into something pained.

"I have lost one of my children to the criminal path once already. I am not willing to let this happen again."

Oh boy, Steph was in way over her head. When did Bruce ever open up about what happened between him and Jason in the past? Why did it have to happen when Steph was all alone with him in the Batcave?

Where were Clark, or Dick, or Alfred when you needed them?

Or even, could she even dare to think of it, a licensed psychiatrist?

Stephanie Gage was an engineer, not a therapist!

"Jason?", Steph asked tentatively.

"No enemy can hurt you more than your own child", Bruce said, ever the cryptid. Steph's heart broke a little. "None of my children will stand opposite me in combat again. I will not let it happen."

"B?", she asked. "Do you want a hug?"

Bruce's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "... I'm fine. Go home to your family, Steph."

Steph huffed and blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. For the world's greatest detective, Bruce Wayne could be horribly dense sometimes. Steph knew that Clark would confirm that. "B. You are my family, too."

Bruce sighed and stiffly put his arm around her shoulders. "I know."

Steph decided that a one-armed side hug just wouldn't cut it and turned, wrapping both her arms around Bruce's middle and pulling him close. Bruce froze for a second before hesitantly putting his arms around her as well, slowly relaxing into the embrace.

"You know what I think you should do?", Steph mumbled into the Kevlar.

Bruce grunted. "Enlighten me."

"Let Lena go on patrol with us. With Dick, Tim, Jay, Cass, Duke, Luke, Dames, me. With Kate. Let her go on patrol with the Supers and with Billy, see Metropolis, Blüdhaven and Fawcett, for all I care", she said and Bruce stiffened.

"Stephanie—"

"No, let me finish." She pulled back, but didn't shrug Bruce's arms off. "B, you're her _dad._ She's the family baby, you totally dote on her. And she's a teenager."

"Pre-teen", Bruce threw in.

Right. For such a rational person, Bruce had surprising difficulties in accepting his kids were growing up. It was kind of adorable, to be honest.

"Whatever. All she wants to do is rebel against you, so maybe let her do the vigilante schtick, but not with you?" Steph shrugged. "Until she has a team like Dick had the Titans and Tim the Young Justice, maybe she just needs to get out from under daddy's wing."

Bruce was frowning, but it wasn't one of his many I-disapprove-of-this-frowns, it was one of his I-might-contemplate-this-frowns. Yes, there was a difference.

"It's Batman and Robin, not Spoiler and Robin", he said, eventually. "Robin needs Batman's tutelage."

"That's a weakass argument. Robin was never glued to your side, B, and there's more than enough Batpeople for her to learn from. She was born into this, it's different", Steph said with a scoff. "And there was a Spoiler and Robin, in more ways than one."

Bruce gave her a pained grimace. "I did not need to know that, Stephanie."

"You totally knew Tim and I were smooshing booties back then. Too late to apologise. "

He sighed. "I will ask Damian. I'd like Helena to remain in Gotham and she gets along with him best."

"You might not want to call Dames right now, though", Steph piped up.

"And why is that?"

"Because he went to see Jon, like, twenty minutes ago. At 3 in the morning. Do I need to piece the rest together for you? Not sure if he's up for babysitting either, Dames' patrol is holy turf for him. Nearly used me as a dart target for his batarangs last time I tried to join him. He's so feisty."

Bruce grimaced, again, then paused, contemplating. "Kate, then. Lizzie accompanies her on patrol and she's nearly the same age as Helena."

Steph grinned. "Great! I'll break the news to Lena once she's calmed down."

"_After_ she is no longer grounded, Stephanie."

Ah. Stern Bat-Dad.

"I'm only a call away." Steph put up a finger. "In emergencies. Don't make it a habit, Brucester."  
  
Bruce gave her one of his rare, open smiles. "Thank you."

Steph mock-saluted. "At your service. I'mma head home now, got a baby, a husband and a really comfortable bed waiting."

Bruce nodded. "I will see you in two days."

Steph wished him a good night and left the med bay, a bounce in her step. Clark was standing at the top of the stairs in his pyjamas, holding a steaming mug of Bruce's favourite tea.

"Spoiler saved the day", Steph announced and patted her stepfather's bicep. "You can thank me later for not having to share a bed with Sadman tonight."

She could feel Clark's puzzled look following her as she left the Cave and grinned.

Man, she so earned Favorite-Kid-Points for this.  



End file.
